


Bartender and Herb Man

by r4spb3rry_t4rt



Category: Smile For Me (Video Game)
Genre: Family Bonding, One Shot, Other, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29546550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/r4spb3rry_t4rt/pseuds/r4spb3rry_t4rt
Summary: Jimothan and Parsley stop being pissy at each other. WowThis takes place outside of the Habitat so The Lounge is just like any other street-side bar
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Bartender and Herb Man

**Author's Note:**

> My boyfriend needed a non-linear narrative story to be made for his homework and he gave me free reign in helping him. I didn't want to disappoint

Jimothan had spent a lot of time away from his son, Parsley, while he went off to college and Jimothan upheld his job at his bar uniquely titled The Lounge. The Lounge was a fairly popular place for all types of faces ranging from an underground singer who was bound to her job by a contract she regretted signing to an ex-teacher who was fired from her job for showing up to work drunk. It was a hard job to hold by himself but it wasn’t the most difficult thing in the world, though it did keep him characteristically busy. One day, from one of the tenants of The Lounge, he had gotten word that his son was in the area and he figured that it’d finally be time to rekindle the very fragile bond he had with his son. It had been years since either of them have said anything to each other but Jimothan figured there was no better time to try and talk to his workaholic son than now.  
Parsley Botch, the Terlton county famous lawyer, never really spent much time around the town that he grew up in, mostly because he had been off to college for the past handful of years but also because he had been held up a couple towns over with his job. Being a lawyer was a very mentally exhausting job for Parsley but it was enjoyable nonetheless. He had decided to stop back into town to see how it had changed, not expecting to see either of his parents for their own separate reasons. He didn’t want to see his mom because she had grown to be more and more pointlessly aggravated about the smallest of things and before Parsley had left for college all he’d get was consistent poking and prodding from his mom about how he could be so much better. Then when it came to his dad he honestly did not want to see the man that was so emotionally unavailable for him when he was growing up, if his dad wasn’t out doing his work he’d only ever pester Parsley with questions like “Y’been eyin’ any girls?” or “How ‘bout joinin’ the sports team?” and he was sick of the stupidly dry conversations from his dad.  
But lo and behold, Parsley couldn’t seem to get much of a break for himself around the small town as he saw his dad approaching him from down the street. Parsley was not going to deal with the incoming bombardment of questions from his father so instead of humoring him with any small talk Parsley simply sneered at his dad’s approaching figure and turned around to head back up the sidewalk he was walking down, willing to find a detour to the motel he was planning on spending the night at if it meant avoiding his dad. But Jimothan caught on fairly quickly, picking up his pace and jogging after his bean-pole-in-a-three-piece-suit of a son. Soon Jimothan was able to catch up to the very unathletic law student and he called after him from around 10 feet behind him “‘Ey! Not even gonna say hi to yer old man?”. Parsley despised even hearing the tone of his voice and he spun around on his heel and snapped back at his dad with “No!! Why would I when the only time you’ve been a ‘dad’ to me was when you were curious about the lack of fun with sport and girls in my personal life!!”. Jimothan stopped in his tracks, staring wide eyed at his son before his eyebrows scrunched in frustration and he yelled back at his son “I’ve been a damn good dad to ya’ you ungrateful brat!”  
“A ‘damn good dad’ doesn’t leave his wife and son out of the blue and only see them for maybe an hour out of the day!”  
Jimothan’s expression softened at the overwhelming emotions Parsley was spilling to him and he tried to butt in with a “Parsley, I--”, but he was cut off quickly by the hot headed lawyer “Don’t even try to talk to me! The only conversations we ever have is about what you want to hear, never about what I want to talk about! Why do you think I never told you about what excited me, dad!? Because there’s no way you’d ever listen to me! You were too caught up with making your trash food at your mediocre bar to care about your own son!”. Parsley finally took a breath, panting heavily as he eyed his dad down, relieved he was able to finally tell his dad what he had been bottling up for years now. Jimothan took a step closer to his son which made Parsley want to walk away again but before he was able to react Jimothan gave him a sharp, “Quit it. Let me just talk, a’ight? Let me tell ya’ what’s been goin’ on…” Parsley stood still but listened with a scowl, “Parsley I’ve… I’ve missed out on a lot, y’know. I’m sorry I wasn’t there a whole lot. I should’ve taken som’more time off to spend with you and yer ma and I’m sorry I didn’t, ‘kay? I’m sorry Parsley, I didn’t mean t’hurt ya like I did.”  
Parsley let his tense muscles relax but his expression was shifting between wanting to forgive his dad and wanting to stay mad at him and Jimothan could tell, so he took another step forward and pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket, handing it over to the other “I was even gonna ask if y’wanted to come stop by The Lounge so I could make ya’ yer fav’rite… But y’don’t gotta come if y’don’t wanna, ‘s up t’you, Parsley.”. Parsley took the ball of paper and smoothed it out so he could see with his own eyes that it was, in fact, his favorite recipe that his dad used to make for him years ago written out on the crumbled paper. He looked back up at his dad and gave a slight nod, “Yeah… That’d be real nice, dad”. Jimothan smiled and walked over to his son, giving him a tight hug before slinging his arm over his shoulder and walking with him back to The Lounge, beginning to chat his son’s ears off about the townwide drama before he stopped himself and asked his son “But, uh… What’s been goin’ on with you? Y’know, with school and lawyerin’ and stuff?” Parsley beamed an unfamiliar smile before catching his dad up with what he’d been dealing with for the past few years on his own. It was a nice moment between the two of them, one that they both hoped, silently of course, would never end.


End file.
